Pull%: Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball

We have previously determined that fantasy managers generally prefer batters to hit the ball into the air to have a chance at a home run. Yet, all fly balls are not equal for this purpose. A player can maximize his power production by pulling the ball in the air. One way to illustrate this is […]

Top MLB Prospects Rankings: #176-250 - Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Leagues

RotoBaller’s fantasy baseball prospects coverage is back. The 2022 season is quickly approaching and while the MLB season hangs in the balance due to the lack of a Collective Bargaining Agreement, the minor league season will be unaffected (for players not on the 40-man roster). We’re beginning our 2022 prospect coverage with the comprehensive Top […]

MLB, Players Union Disappointed After Tuesday's Meeting

Both sides of Major League Baseball's labor talks are disappointed after another meeting on Tuesday, with MLB now joining the players union in that regard. The Union offered a couple small changes -- lowering the bonus pool to $100 million from $105 million - but MLB remains at $10 million. The chances that spring training […]

Noteworthy Hitting Leaders (xSLG) - Statcast Review for Fantasy Baseball

There are stats for everything now. It's great, but it can also be overwhelming at times. Depending on where we look, we can tell ourselves all different types of narratives about a player. As a result, I've always been a proponent of identifying the stats that you find to be most useful/beneficial and focusing on […]

Spring Training Likely To Be Delayed

Major League Baseball and player representatives continue to hold much different views of the game's economics when it comes to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the scheduled start of spring training in mid-February is in jeopardy. In another few weeks, Opening Day on March 31 could be a long shot as well. Players remain […]

Batted Ball Data Analysis - How Consistent Are GB%, LD%, and FB% Year To Year

When we are evaluating hitters, we talk a lot about batted ball profile. When we're talking about this, things like launch angle and ground ball rate are cited quite often. I wanted to make a post to go over these things a bit more in-depth, giving our readers more complete knowledge of the subject at […]

Exit Velocity Leaders - Statcast Review for Fantasy Baseball

As we wait for MLB and the MLB Player's Association to work through the lockout issues and move forward with the 2022 baseball season, we've been digging into a few players that stand out as good fantasy investments based on their 2021 Statcast numbers. As with evaluations of any metric, these should be taken as […]

Early 2022 Fantasy Baseball Third Base Rankings - 5x5 Roto Mixed Leagues

The 2022 MLB season is right around the corner, and we are kicking things off with our rankings! Below you'll find our early 2022 fantasy baseball third base rankings and tiers for 5x5 mixed roto leagues. This time of year is always exciting for baseball fans and fantasy baseball players, and we are more excited […]

Gordon Beckham Announces His Retirement

Infielder Gordon Beckham announced in a tweet on Wednesday that he is officially retiring. The eighth overall pick by the Chicago White Sox in the 2008 draft, Beckham made his Major League debut in 2009 and logged 3782 plate appearances in the Majors. In addition to playing for the White Sox, he also suited up […]

Early 2022 Fantasy Baseball Rankings - 5x5 Roto Mixed Leagues

Welcome back RotoBallers! In this article you'll find our team's early 2022 fantasy baseball rankings and tiers for 5x5 mixed roto leagues. The new year is always an exciting time, as it marks a period where interest in the approaching MLB and fantasy baseball season starts to pick up. Our team has been hard at […]

Using Launch Data to Search for Power Breakouts in Fantasy Baseball

Statcast data is such a beautiful thing. I start a ton of posts like this, but I want to say again - the quantity and richness of this data gives guys like me endless opportunities for statistical analysis. Today, we're going to dive into the hitting pool and focus on launch profiles, with the aim […]

Predicting Minor League Hitting Stats for the Majors: Searching for Stickiness in Fantasy Baseball

Of all the fantasy sports, baseball probably allows for the most amount of speculation. Given the nature of the game where players spend at least a couple of years in the minor leagues before getting to the highest level, there is a lot of analysis done on these minor leaguers with the hopes of figuring […]

Hitters Set To Break Out Late in 2022

In baseball, common sense would indicate that a player would break out when they reach their prime, which is around 26 years old. However, development is not linear. We have seen plenty of players burst onto the scene with the first or second season and flourish, while others have taken longer than expected to develop. […]

Plate Discipline: Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball

No matter how high a particular player's BABIP may be, his average will be mediocre at best if he strikes out too much. This is why fantasy managers have known for years that players like Mike Zunino are potential drains on a fantasy team's batting average. Furthermore, players that whiff a lot tend to continue […]

Early 2022 Fantasy Baseball Rankings - Points Leagues and H2H Points Formats

Welcome RotoBallers to our early 2022 fantasy baseball points league rankings for points leagues and head-to-head (H2H) points leagues. We couldn't be more excited to be putting out various fantasy baseball rankings and fantasy baseball articles for the 2022 season -- it's always an exciting time of year. In general, points leagues and H2H points […]

Third Base Dynasty Rankings for Fantasy Baseball

It's not quite draft season for fantasy baseball but that matters little in dynasty. Cut/hold decisions are being made in the following weeks leading up to the annual redraft or auction so it's important to assess the relative value of each player on your roster. As it turns out, I've recently updated my dynasty baseball […]

MLB Makes First Labor Proposal Since Lockout Began

Major League Baseball made its first labor proposal on Thursday since locking out players on Dec. 2, but it did little to encourage players and raised the likelihood of spring training being postponed, according to sources familiar with the situation. MLB proposed changes to the arbitration system for players with two-plus years of service, tweaked […]

Biggest Brl/BBE% Fallers - Hitters

Welcome to part two of my pre-season series on 2021 barrel rate risers and fallers. In the first part, I looked at the players who showed the biggest barrel rate improvement in 2021 and broke down whether or not we should believe that success will carry over into 2022. In this article, I'll look at […]

Batter BABIP: Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball

The most accessible of the fantasy-relevant advanced stats is BABIP, or Batting Average on Balls In Play. It simply measures a player's batting average on balls in play, with outcomes such as strikeouts and home runs removed from consideration. In general, the league average hovers around .300, a nice round number to remember. Many know […]

Fantasy Baseball Risers Post-Free Agency

With all the free-agent signings and trades that happened prior to the lockout, plenty has changed ahead of the 2022 season where the fantasy landscape is concerned. The impact of new acquisitions will certainly be felt in fantasy drafts next spring. Corey Knebel, for instance, could see a significant number of save opportunities in Philadelphia next […]

Kyle Seager Announces His Retirement

Seattle Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager announced his retirement in a statement that was posted to Twitter by his wife on Wednesday. Seager is calling it quits after a career season in 2021 in which he posted 35 home runs and 101 RBI. In his 11 seasons in MLB, all with the Mariners, Seager recorded […]

Projecting Power in 2022: Increases in Air% Exit Velocities

Balls come and balls go but regardless of the current offensive environment in baseball, what hasn't changed is our fantasy love of power. But after the happy fun ball days of 2019 and 2020, the MLB went back to the lab in an attempt to deaden some of the bouncy ball hijinks. And deaden they […]

Valuing Injured Players Returning In 2022

Last year's season-ending injury list is an All-Star team. It holds three of the best players in the game and plenty of other superstar adjacent players. Now, heading into the 2022 fantasy baseball season, we have to evaluate the value of these injured players. Should we be concerned about Ronald Acuna Jr? Is Jacob deGrom […]

Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar to Mets - Fantasy Impact

The New York Mets have been major players in the free-agent market so far this offseason. Before the MLB lockout, they made two high-profile signings by acquiring starting pitcher Max Scherzer and outfielder Starling Marte. Not to be lost in the shuffle, the Mets also signed outfielder Mark Canha and infielder Eduardo Escobar. The acquisitions […]

Mark Kotsay A Candidate For A's Managerial Job

Third base coach Mark Kotsay is among the Oakland Athletics managerial candidates who have or are expected to interview soon, and the list also include Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro, Red Sox bench coach Will Venable, Astros bench coach Joe Espada, A's bullpen coach Marcus Jensen and A's hitting coach Darren Bush, according to sources. […]

Mets Interview Brad Ausmus For Manager Position

The New York Mets interviewed Brad Ausmus for their managerial opening on Monday, marking the first interview of what's expected to be an extensive search, according to sources familiar with the situation. The 52-year-old Ausmus served as the manager for the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels previously, and he has a long relationship with […]

2022 Fantasy Breakout Candidates - NL Central 

Identifying potential fantasy breakout players in drafts each Spring can be crucial in building a championship-winning roster for fantasy managers. Often times the breakout players, if they do in fact break out, will significantly outperform their draft position and help you find success. It may be a late-round pick performing like a quality contributor who […]

Arizona Fall League 2021 Wrap Up

The Arizona Fall League wrapped up on November 20th with a Mesa Solar Sox championship over the Suprise Saguaros. In this space, we will review the 2021 Arizona Fall League by highlighting players who were the most notable risers and disappointments based on their performance from a fantasy baseball perspective. Many of these prospects won't […]

Early One-Man Mock (Rounds 2-5) - 2022 Fantasy Baseball

I've already run through the first round of my one-man mock, which you can check out right here. Now, let's move on to the next few rounds with a look at how early drafts might shake out. I took roster construction into consideration so that a team didn't select three outfielders in the first three […]

Johan Camargo Signs With Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies signed infielder Johan Camargo to a one-year, $1.4 million deal on Wednesday night before MLB entered a lockout on Thursday. The deal includes $100,000 in incentives. Camargo became a free agent when the Atlanta Braves didn't tender him a contract for 2022. Right-hander Adonis Medina was designated for assignment to clear a […]